See The Cranes Dance
by Cut The Dotted Line
Summary: Everything was going good for Kotori, until she confessed having 'dreams of the future and past' to her teammate. Now she's worried he might be on Orochimaru's radar. OC story. Sorry no yaoi. Currently no pairings.
1. Enter: The Uzumaki Cousins

Summary: Everything was going good for Kotori, until she confessed having 'dreams of the future and past' to her teammate. Now she's worried he might be on Orochimaru's radar.  
Chapters: 1/?  
Words: 3,735  
Beta: None

* * *

Mizuki sensei walked into the classroom, his shoes squeaking obnoxiously as he stared daggers at the snickering blonde next to her. A smirk quirked her lips for a moment as she watched Iruka sensei try not to laugh as well. She blinked up at Mizuki's angry expression before turning to Naruto.

"Naruto-chan," She whispered even though she knew that their Chunin instructors could hear, "Did you sneak into his house to do that?"

Mirth danced in his eyes as he giggled his answer, "Ehehehe, yeah."

"Hm," She decided to add insult to injury, "You'd think a Chunin would have home security that could at least keep a pre-genin out."

Her cousin smirked at that, "Maybe I'm just so awesome that I got passed it."

"Maybe," She smiled as turned back to the paper in front of her. Tomorrow was the day she and Naruto would be taking their Genin test, a test that would last most of the day. She went over the review sheet despite not worrying too much about it. The red head did worry about her cousin though. Although, at the same time she wondered if she needed to…

To say that Uzumaki Kotori was unusual was an understatement, or at least to her it was. The girl was slightly frightened by the things that came to her in dreams. Her cousin had been one of many people she had dreams about before meeting, as were a handful of other students in the room. The strange gift of precognition was both terrifying and oddly relieving. She kept her knowledge to herself, though.

"Alright class," After a few words with Mizuki, Iruka called the class to attention, or at least those who weren't sleeping, "Tomorrow you're going to be taking the test to see if you are ready to be Genin. It's the last test of this year so after lunch those of you that are taking it can pair up and study together, alright?"

"Yes sensei," the class chorused before the bell and they rushed out the door.

"I'm getting lunch in town," Kotori told Naruto as they walked out the door, "Ino will probably tag along."

"That's okay," Naruto said giving her a mischievous smile, "I think I'm going to pull one last prank."

She gave him a sideways smile as he snickered, "Do you have a plan of action?"

"Paint on the faces of the Hokage," He whispered in her ear.

"What about plan of escape?" She said raising a brow.

"Hide while the Chunin run by and then run like hell." He said snickering.

"You want me stick around after lunch to do a transformation of you?" She asked him and he nodded.

"Okay," She said as Ino came up to them, "Don't do anything I wouldn't."

He laughed, "Okay, see ya later."

"What was that all about?" Ino asked as they began walking side by side.

"Naruto is doing his usual thing." She shrugged, "You want to get Onigiri at the convenience store?"

"Kotori-chan!" Sakura called catching up to the two, "wait up."

"Sakura-chan?" Kotori asked raising a brow. Normally she did talk to her if Ino was around since they had a bitter rivalry due to their crushes on the same boy.

"Hey," Sakura said giving her a bright smile and pointedly ignoring Ino, "I was thinking since it was the last day we could all eat together?"

"Does that mean you two will get aside your rivalry for an hour?" She asked slightly surprised at this.

"I will if she will," Ino said crossing her arms and glaring at her pink haired rival.

Reluctantly Sakura nodded, "Just for lunch though."

"In that case…" Kotori said nodding and running towards a retreating girl, "... Hinata-chan!"

The girl in question squeaked at the shout of her name and blinked shyly at the redhead that called her name, "K-Kotori-chan?"

"Would you like to have lunch with, Ino, Sakura, and I?" She asked her and the Hyuuga smiled shyly as she nodded, "Alright," She grabbed her hand and led her over to the others, "C'mon girls."

* * *

Naruto snickered as he ran from the Chunin ran after him. He spotted his cousin easily and hid while she did a quick transformation. She started running and the Chunin chased after her as she led them to the academy. She turned a sharp corner in the hallway and stopped running as she canceled the transformation jutsu. It was good practice for her in acting natural under pressure, she forced herself to walk slowly as the Chunin rounded the corner, and looked for Naruto. She slipped into Iruka's classroom before they could put together that she had been in on it.

Walking over to her seat she noticed some of her friends (that she had left in order to help Naruto) were gushing over Uchiha Sasuke. She rolled her eyes and took her usual seat next to the one Naruto had been permanently assigned. Not even five minutes later Iruka walked in with her cousin tied up. She snickered as Naruto pouted as Iruka scolded him and then announced they would be having a pop quiz on the transformation jutsu because of Naruto.

"Except you, Kotori-kun." He said giving her an irritated look, "That was a very good transformation, I'm surprised you maintained while running." She shrugged and kept her face blank, "However, you have to help Naruto clean up his latest prank."

"Don't I always?" She said with a sigh.

* * *

Kotori scrubbed at the stone faces of the Hokage next to her cousin, who was pouting as he did the same. Iruka sat on top of the head above them to make sure they did as they were supposed to and didn't make more trouble. Not that he really had to worry about her, she usually just helped Naruto escape, or bought the paint (or anything else). There really wasn't much to this paint though. She made sure to get chalk based paint, that way it would come off easier, or just with rain.

"This sucks, loser." Naruto muttered under his breath.

"You two are not going home until you've cleaned off every drop of paint." Iruka reminded them.

"So what? It's not like there's anyone waiting at home for us!" Naruto shouted at him and continued to pout as he cleaned. Kotori frowned at that. It was true. Both her parents and his had died in the Kyuubi's attack. She'd had the nightmarish dream of that a few months ago.

After a moment of silence Iruka spoke to them again, "Naruto-kun, Kotori-kun," Naruto scowled up at him and she blinked up as well.

"What do you want now, sensei." Naruto grumbled at him.

"Well, I was just thinking…" Iruka said trying to come off nonchalant and failing, "...Maybe after you clean all this up I could take you both out for ramen, the good stuff."

Naruto face lit up with joy, "Now that's some serious motivation, I'll have this clean in no time!"

"You've done it now sensei," Kotori giggled, "My baby cousin is a total ramen addict."

"Kotori-chan!" Naruto whined, "I'm not a baby, you're only twenty days older than me!"

"You'll always be my baby cousin," She said waving his whining off with a hand, "Even when you become a Jonin, you'll be my baby cousin."

He huffed, once again pouting at her, "Whatever."

* * *

Iruka sat between the two Uzumaki cousins as they ate ramen at Ichiraku cheerily. He, however, just couldn't come up with a logical reason as to why they would do something as awful as painting the faces of the Hokage. They were both good kids, Kotori was tied for top kunoichi with Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura, and Naruto was genuinely a kind person even if he was at the bottom of the class. Finally after thinking about it until it was almost giving him a headache he voiced his question and the answer he got from Naruto surprised him.

"... Because I'm going to be greater than any of them, me, Naruto, the next Hokage, and then everyone will have to look up to me and stop disrespecting me" He answered with determination.

"And why did you help him, Kotori-kun?"

"It's actually pretty good practice for our ninja skills," She said to him, "I mean if it weren't for all the pranks I wouldn't have been able to out run those chunin earlier." She giggled at that, "maintaining that jutsu while running also comes from pranks."

"Huh," Iruka blinked at that, "I never really thought of it like that."

"Hey, sensei," Naruto said drawing his attention, "can I ask you a favor?"

"Hm, you wanna another bowl?" Iruka asked curiously.

"Uh, no, um, I wanna try on your headband," Naruto begged, "Please!"

"Uhh…" Iruka began to mess with his headband as they looked up at him, "Oh this? No way, you can only wear the leaf hitai-ate after you graduate from the academy and become a ninja." he gave Naruto a smile, "You've gotta pass the test tomorrow."

"That is so un-cool!" Naruto complained causing Iruka to laugh.

"Hey, is that why you took off your goggles?" Iruka asked still snickering.

"I wanna another bowl!" Naruto said rather than answering.

* * *

Kotori woke up gasping for breath after having a dream. It was about tomorrow's test and the things that would follow. Naruto would fail, miserably, but then Mizuki - _"That asshole,"_ she had thought bitterly, - would trick him and everything would work out. The information she'd gather from the vision, however, was slightly unnerving. It was honestly shocking to find out that her baby cousin was the container for the nine-tails. He was such a sweetie and that fox… she shuddered remembering that chakra from all those years ago. Naruto was not the Kyuubi, which she knew for sure.

Rather than dwell on what she had just learned she shrugged it off like she did most bad news, and rolled out of her bed. It was almost time to get up anyway and if she didn't want ramen for breakfast she knew she better start cooking. She looked at her cousin who was cuddling his pillow with a fond smile before heading for the kitchen. Today they were having rice, miso, and tamagoyaki*. She knew that Naruto would probably put everything, but the rice into a bowl of ramen, but she didn't mind. Besides she knew that ramen tasted better when it was cooked with boiling hot miso rather than water.

The smell of miso soup woke Naruto shortly after she started on it. She already had the rice and tamagoyaki done. He took his egg roll and set it aside as he poured some of the miso into ramen just as she guessed he would. She made too much rice and put the leftovers into the fridge so that she could use it later. They ate in silence while they tried to wake up a bit more before heading to school.

Once there they were given the written test, and then obstacle test, but the latter was just a way to tweak stats. There was a time limit on the obstacle test and if you couldn't get through it in the time allotted you were pretty much screwed on your stats. The only test to worry about was the test on one of the three academy jutsu. The written test was used as one of the systems of ranking and sorting for teams, so Kotori didn't worry to much about it either.

Kotori had no doubt in her mind that she would pass with flying colors. It was just that she was worried about how Naruto would handle her passing and him not. She never saw herself in her visions so she didn't know what would happen with her. It made her nervous as she waited for her name to be called for the final test. She began chewing the inside left corner of her lip as she stared at her desk in front of her.

"Kotori," She jumped when her cousin put a hand on her shoulder, "Don't worry," She turned around and saw him give her one of his smiles that were like sunshine, "You'll do fine."

"Thank you, Naruto." she said smiling back at him, "I'm just -"

"Uzumaki, Kotori," A Chunin sensei called out effectively cutting her off.

"Good luck when it's your turn." She said quickly before scurrying to the testing room. Iruka and Mizuki sat behind the table and told her to do the clone jutsu. "Uh, how many clones?"

"As many as you can make." Iruka told her as he went over her test scores on the sheet of paper in front of him. She knew that the clone jutsu was mostly about chakra control and that the average Genin could make at least three. So she made six since her chakra control was better than most Genin. Although if she were honest she could only maintain three in fight, but her sensei didn't need to know that. Six seemed to satisfy her sensei who nodded at her.

"You pass," Iruka told her, "Do you want to discuss your score?"

"Yes," She said to him, "where do I rank?"

"Well, if it wasn't for your chakra control you'd be tied with Yamanaka Ino, instead you're tied with Haruno Sakura." Mizuki told her.

"Doesn't the fact that I have medical training boost my score?" She asked remembering all the time she spent on that damned fish test. Due to the fact that she had more chakra than Sakura and most of her fellow students she had to try harder on chakra control. It just meant that since she had medical training she was told to learn things that most only learn as Genin, like tree walking.

"Extra training won't be added to scores until later," Iruka said to her, "So really you're the top Kunoichi."

"Good," She said nodding, "what did I do the worst in?"

"The obstacle course," Mizuki answered, "Your time was four minutes and fifty-four seconds."

"That's still not as bad as some of the others," Iruka said once he saw her wrinkle her nose.

"I still need to work on my speed though," she said frowning as she walked up and got a hitai-ate, "are we allowed to change the fabric these are on?"

"Yes," Iruka answered, "they should sell fabric you can use for that in most ninja clothing stores."

"Okay, thank you, Iruka sensei, Mizuki sensei." she said bowing before exiting the room.

She then went into the class where the graduates were and saw a few of her friends milling around waiting to be dismissed for the day. She sat with Hinata who was wearing her hitai-ate around her neck and kept glancing around.

"H-have you see-seen Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked her which made Kotori want to laugh since Hinata was the one with the eyes that could see through walls. She restrained herself from doing so because she knew the girl was actually worried for him. Kotori thought that crush was the cutest thing ever.

"I'm going to take a guess and say he failed…" She answered sadly, "... I'm not worried though, I think the Hokage will do something like he did for that Rock Lee kid last year."

"R-really?" Hinata asked blinking her eyes at her

"Yeah," Kotori said nodding, "Naruto is… well he has a lot of chakra and it would be stupid not to let him become a ninja."

"I-I hope y-you're r-right, Kotori-chan." Hinata said looking sadly down at her hands in her lap.

"He'll be fine," Kotori said waving off her worry with a hand, "So, what kind of missions do you think we'll get as Genin?"

* * *

"Naruto-chan, I'm so sorry." Kotori hugged her cousin while he sat in the schoolyard swing sadly.

"It's okay, Kotori-chan…" He said smiling up at her and then blinking, "... where's your head band?"

"I don't want to wear it yet," she explained, "I'm going to change the fabric on it, I don't like the blue color."

"Oh, I didn't know you could do that." He muttered looking down at the ground again.

"Well, um, I need to go buy that fabric for the headband, so… I'll meet you at home before we go to Ichiraku's later, right?" She asked him with her head cocked to the side.

"Yeah," He said cheering up a little at the thought of ramen.

"Okay, love you." She said hugging him again and then dashing off.

The store that she had asked Iruka about after class was ran by Shinobi that knew what kind of fabric was appropriate for missions and such. Kotori looked down at what she was wearing and frowned. She wore a dress like most other girls at the academy did, but she wasn't a _girl _anymore; she was a Kunoichi. Kotori moved through the racks of clothing deciding that she was going to dress differently now that she really was a ninja.

She gathered a few mesh shirts, tank tops in various shades of green, black knee length shorts (that were more like leggings, really), and an oversized black and grey jacket. The one thing she loved most about her village was that they almost always put an Uzumaki swirl on everything so she didn't have to embroider her clan's symbol onto her jacket. She went up to the register and put her clothes on a tab that would be paid out of her checks when she finally started taking missions. It was how most ninja paid for things and the rates were different for each person. She had to fill out a form to figure in what her rates would be which took a while.

By the time Kotori got to the apartment she shared with Naruto he wasn't there. So she began to put her clothes away and then changed into her new clothes. The jacket seemed to be made for a self-conscious woman because when she zipped it up the circular grey part on the sides made her look thinner. Not that she really needed it.

You could almost always tell who the other orphans were at the academy by their size in comparison to everyone else. She and Naruto didn't eat enough so they were shorter and thinner than most of the others. It never really bothered her to be called short, but it did bug Naruto when it was pointed out that he was the shortest boy in class. Kotori always tried to tell him that size didn't matter, it was what was in the inside that did.

After looking herself over she left the apartment and went to off to find Ino to show off her new look. Instead she found Hinata looking for her instead.

"Hinata-chan?" She said as she went down the stairs.

"Kotori-c-chan," Hinata greeted, "I'm s-sorry if I'm b-bothering you."

"Oh no, it's alright," Kotori wanted to ask why she wasn't celebrating becoming a Genin with her family, but she knew that they always gave her a hard time so she didn't bother, "I was about to go ask for a second opinion on my new outfit so…" She gave a shrug, "what do you think?"

"I-I like it." Hinata answered as Kotori did a little spin, "A-are you going to k-keep your hair up in p-pigtails?"

"Hmm…" She reached up and ran her fingers through one of said pigtails, "I really don't want to cut it," Kotori frowned since she honestly did love having long hair, but it could easily be used against her in a fight, "what do you think I should do with it?"

"Y-you could wear it in-in a bun?" She suggested to her.

"Okay," she said smiling happily, "Do you want to come up stairs and help me with my hair?"

"Uh, is-is N-Naruto-kun…?" Hinata's face flushed as she tried to get her question out.

"No, I have no idea where he is," Kotori shrugged, "He'll probably show up later wanting to go out for ramen."

"Oh o-okay," She said as they went up the steps.

* * *

Kotori sat up sleeping on an old sofa she and Naruto had taken from an alley when they first moved into the apartment. Before they lived together they had been in the same orphanage. She approached him only because she overheard him say his last name was Uzumaki. He had been lonely there just as she had been. Once they found each other though, they were inseparable. They were the only family the other had and no one could get her to turn against him. The nuns in charge tried to separate her from him and that caused the biggest tantrum from both of them. They gave up eventually.

"Hey! Kotori-chan!" Naruto shouted happily as he threw open the door. She snapped awake and blinked at him.

"Where were you?" She asked rubbing her eyes.

"You'll never guess what happened!" He said launching himself at the couch, "I thought you were going to change the color of your headband?"

"Huh," She muttered touching the hitai-ate as if she could tell the color by touch, "aw, crap. I totally got side tracked."

Naruto laughed at that before telling her where he had been all night, "So, maybe we'll go on the same missions sometime and everything!"

"I hope so…" She mumbled sleepily, "We have to have our picture taken for our ninja IDs tomorrow."

"Really!" He said excitedly, "I'm going to do something awesome for it!"

"Okay," She said blinking, "I'm going back to sleep."

"Wait," He said suddenly nervous, "I need… I think I should tell at least you this…"

"Hm?" She cocked her head as he looked down sadly.

"I just… I'm not sure if you'll still want to be my family if you know…" He said looking up at her worriedly.

"Naruto, you know no matter what, you'll always be my family." She told him as she pulled him into a hug, "Even if you were to hate me, I'd still love you."

"I have the nine-tailed fox sealed inside me." She chose to hug him tighter when he whispered that, "It's why all the villagers hate me."

"Well, they're stupid and small minded." She said to him, "I don't hate you and I don't hate the Kyuubi either."

He pulled away from her and blinked at her, "Really?"

"Yep," She said to him, "I've already forgiven him for everything he's done to me. After all if it weren't for him I might not have ever met you."

Naruto smiled and began rubbing at his eyes as they watered. She didn't point it out that he was crying, but instead just hugged him tighter.

* * *

A/N: Hi, this is my first Naruto fan fiction, or at least the first one I've posted, it's probably going to be canon being spit back at you for a while, but some things are going to get different sometime after the 'Land of Waves,' arc. I'm doing this mostly for my own entertainment and decided to share it, so please don't flame me. I'll update whenever I get a chapter. I hope you enjoy this. :D


	2. Survival Test: Pass or Fail

Chapters: 2/?  
Words: 5,046  
Beta: None  
Disclaimer: I forgot this the last chapter, but I'm only going to say it once, I don't own anything, but Kotori or any other OC in this story. I think it's pretty obvious since this website is called _fan_fiction dot net.

Index: *

* * *

"... and then I used my sexy jutsu to beat his stupid trainer!" Naruto said as they sat in their old classroom and waited to be assigned teammates.

"I wish I would've stayed with you after I got my photo taken." Kotori said as she faced him with her back to the front of the classroom, "I can't believe you taught him _that _transformation jutsu."

"Ehehehe," Naruto snickered at that.

"Huh, what are you doing here Naruto?" Shikamaru Nara asked, pausing on his walk down the steps, "This isn't for drop-outs. You can't be here unless you graduate."

"Oh yeah," Naruto snapped, "Do you see this? Do you see this? Open your eyes Shikamaru, it's a regulation headband." He snarked before smiling, "We're going to be training together! How do you like that?!" Kotori giggled while the Nara huffed, "Let me put it to you this way, I look great in this head gear! Like it was made for me!"

At that point Sakura and Ino fell through the door together and Kotori sighed. _It looks like it's going to be one of _those _days._ Kotori was already feeling down because of her latest vision. It looked as though Sakura was going to be the Kunoichi on her cousin's team instead of her. It made her angry that she knew Sakura was going to treat him crappy. She knew the girl didn't like him, but she didn't have to be so mean. It ticked her off, but she didn't want to get into a fight with a comrade, especially now. She was broken from her thoughts as Sakura practically tossed her cousin to the floor to get to Sasuke.

"You okay Naruto-chan?" She asked and he nodded as Ino and Sakura argued.

Naruto glared at Sasuke and then jumped onto the desk to get into his face. She already knew what was going to happen, but watched anyway for the comedic value. Sure enough Naruto was bumped and ended up falling mouth to mouth on the poor Uchiha. Kotori clamped her hand over her mouth to keep her from laughter from getting too loud.

Iruka came in shortly thereafter and the class was called to order. He explained that they would all be placed on teams. This seemed to surprise some of the students, but Kotori had seen this in her dream. He began calling off the teams and she listened for her own and soon they got to team seven.

"Squad seven: Uzumaki, Naruto," _Haruno, Sakura_, Kotori supplied in her head, "Uzumaki, Kotori, and Uchiha, Sasuke."

"Huh…" This was not what had happened in the vision, this was completely different. At the same time however, she could understand the reasoning behind the team. Naruto was hard to get along with and she tended to get along with everyone. Sasuke was a loner, but Naruto had a way of getting people to open up. They would want to put people that could work well together on the same team. The only thing was… she didn't dream it like that. It was supposed to be Sakura.

She ignored what was being said after that and thought about it. She had _never _seen herself in any of her visions. It made sense, she guessed, but she wasn't sure of it. _Maybe I'm an unknown variable and that's why… hmm makes sense._ She shrugged it off as Naruto started yelling about the team.

"After lunch you'll meet your new Jonin teachers," Iruka said to the class, "Until then class dismissed."

"Uchiha-san," Kotori said catching him by the wrist before he could escape the class, "Since we're on the same team, would you like to have lunch with Naruto and I?"

"No," He said and then attempted to pull his wrist out of her hand.

"Oh, but I insist," Kotori said tightening her grip with a cheerful smile, "Naruto and I would both like to get to know our new teammate better, so come on." She began dragging him out the door, "Naruto will you grab our lunches?"

"Yeah, yeah…" He muttered, but was slightly happy not to be the one getting dragged.

* * *

Sasuke was highly annoyed as he was forcibly dragged by the Kunoichi on his team. If it weren't for the fact that she was a comrade and a girl he would've probably hit her in order to escape. He attempted to try to pull his arm free, and drag his feet, but every time he resisted she would either dig her nails into him or grip harder. He was fully aware that he was going to have a bruised wrist tomorrow if not sooner.

"Okay," She said finally letting go of him, "we'll eat lunch here."

"Hn," He grunted as he looked around at the shaded area under the tree.

"I still don't understand why we're on a team with him!" Naruto said glaring at him.

"I do," she said and the blond idiot looked at her for an answer, "this team is kind of stacked."

"What?" Sasuke asked in confusion.

"Well," She grimaced and looked at Naruto.

"Should I tell him too?" He asked her and she glanced at Sasuke before looking back at her cousin.

"Not yet," She said to him before turning back to Sasuke, "Uh… Naruto has special chakra and that makes him… kind of powerful."

That made no sense to him, "You're joking," There was no way in hell Naruto was anything but a loser, "He can't even make a clone, there's no way -"

"I can to make a clone!" Naruto snapped and then made about five clones one hand sign he had never seen before.

"They're solid clones, too." She said poking one in the tummy and making it giggle. Sasuke tried to keep the surprise off his face. "He learned that in order to pass the test because he couldn't make a normal clone."

"What kind of loser can't make a normal clone?" Sasuke said as Naruto dismissed his clones.

"He couldn't make them because of his special chakra." She explained, "Or at least that's how Naruto explained it."

"Can we eat now?" Naruto complained plopping into the grass.

"I'm not stopping you," His cousin muttered as she sat with her back to the tree.

Sasuke chose to humor them and sat down as well, "What about _you_ makes this team stacked?"

"From what I've been told the Uzumaki have unusually large reserves of chakra," She explained to him, "I don't have anywhere near as much as Naruto, but I do have more than the average Genin."

"What about you, bastard?" Naruto asked him making him scowl at the nickname.

"I'm -!"

"Sasuke!" before he could get out what he was going to say an annoyingly familiar voice called out his name.

"Hm, Sakura?" Naruto muttered as he looked up in the direction of the voice.

"Sasuke," Sakura's grating voice called as she stopped next to him, "Can I eat lunch with you and your team?"

"Why don't you eat with your teammates?" Kotori asked her before Sasuke could outright refuse her.

"Ugh, they're so annoying." she sneered.

"I find Uchiha-san somewhat annoying and I'm still eating and talking to him civilly, why can't you?" Kotori said causing Sasuke to scowl.

"Aw c'mo -." Kotori cover her cousin's mouth and shook her head.

"Well, since neither of us is wanted here, maybe we could eat together, Sasuke?" Sakura asked and he gave her a frigid look.

"No," He said to her, "I'm eating with my team."

"Oh okay," She said kind of put out as she wandered away.

"Aw, that was mean." Naruto said once Kotori removed her hand.

"This is team time, Naruto," She scolded, "Not flirting time."

"But-," He started.

"No buts," She said to him, "let's eat."

* * *

Hatake Kakashi thought about the things he had learned about his students while with the Sandaime. The crystal ball had shown that Naruto and Sasuke were likely to not get along and that Kotori was a quiet girl especially in comparison to her cousin. Sasuke looked a lot like Itachi, but not enough for it hurt to look at him like it did the other two. Naruto looked enough like Minato that Kakashi felt uncomfortable. Kotori made faces like her aunt Kushina at times, usually when she was giving a real smile. Other than that she looked more like a young Uzumaki Mito.

He noticed as he approached the door that there was an eraser wedged between the door and the wall. Most likely it was one of the Uzumakis' pranks and he debated whether or not to let it fall on his head. _Hm, I might as well let them underestimate me_. With that thought he slid the door open and let the eraser plop onto his head.

Naruto immediately began to laugh about it while the other two stared in poorly hidden surprise. He walked into the room tossing the eraser aside and took a good look at the three of them. Kotori sat with a medical textbook open in front of her and Naruto smiled up at him, but the last little Uchiha sat brooding. Apparently Obito's little cousin didn't like to be kept waiting.

"Hmm how can I put this," Kakashi mused aloud, "My first impression of this group… you're a bunch of idiots." That seemed to bother the boys, but his Kunoichi shrugged it off, "Let's talk on the roof."

Once his little Genin had made their way up to the roof they sat next to each other. The cousins leaned against each other as if they were attached at the hip while the Uchiha sat further away, but not too far. Sasuke seemed to be trying to make himself look detached from the group, but Kakashi could tell it wasn't completely so.

"Alright why don't you introduce yourselves," Kakashi spoke up and the cousins looked up at the same time as if they were about to start speaking together, "One at a time."

"What do you want us to tell you?" Kotori asked him.

"Hmm, Things you like, things you hate, hobbies, dreams for the future," He suggested just as Minato had done all those years ago, "Things like that."

"Why don't you tell us stuff first," Naruto suggested, "I mean, before we talk, tell us about you, so we can see how it's supposed to work."

"Me?" Kakashi asked pointing at himself, "I'm Hatake Kakashi… Things I like and things I hate… I don't feel like telling you that… My dreams for the future, hm, I've never really thought about it, as for my hobbies… I have lots of hobbies." This caused the two Uzumaki's to scoff at him, "Okay your turn, you on the right, you first."

"Believe it, I'm Uzumaki Naruto," He told him, "I like my cousin, and instant ramen, and I really like the ramen that Iruka sensei got me at the Ichiraku noodle shop, but I hate the three minutes you have to wait after you pour the water in the ramen cup. My hobby is eating different types of ramen and comparing them, and my future dream is to be the greatest Hokage then the whole village will stop disrespecting me and start treating me like I'm somebody, somebody important!"

Kakashi didn't let it show, but the words hurt. They sounded so much like Obito it was painful, "Alright, red your next."

Kotori smirked at being called by her hair color, "I'm Uzumaki Kotori. I like my baby cousin and yakitori*. I hate…" her face seemed to twitch as she realized what she hated, "... dreaming. My hobbies are reading and finding more ways to control my chakra." finally she seemed more confident having actually thought of her dreams before, "My dreams for the future or goals really, are to become a frontline fighter and eventually an S-ranked Kunoichi."

"Aren't you training to be a medic?" Kakashi pointed out and she frowned.

"I only wanted to learn medical ninjutsu to keep him alive," She said nodding towards Naruto, "You wouldn't believe some of the crazy things he's done."

"I only fell off a roof once!" He shouted in embarrassment.

"Yeah, whatever," She said rolling her eyes at her cousin before looking back Kakashi, "I have the chakra reserves for a frontline fighter, if I'm reduced to nothing more than a medic on this team I'm going to be ticked off."

"For a while, that's probably all you're going to be." Kakashi said moving on to his next little duckling, "Okay your turn."

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke," He said from behind his hands, "I hate a lot of things, and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan and destroy a certain someone…"

There was a pregnant pause as his teammates stared at him and then she spoke, "Kami, you're a drama queen."

Naruto snickered at that before Kakashi spoke, "Good, your each unique with your own ideas. We'll have our first mission tomorrow."

"What kind of mission are we going to have?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"It's a task that the four of us will do together…" Kakashi began.

"What?! What?! What?!" Naruto said excitedly.

"... A survival exercise." Kakashi told them, "This isn't like your previous training."

"So, uh, what kind of training is it anyway?" Naruto asked him.

Kakashi gave a dark chuckle trying to scare them, "What's so funny?" Kotori asked looking behind them as if she thought someone was making faces behind them.

"If I tell you that, you aren't going to like it," she turned her questioning gaze back to him upon hearing that, "Of the twenty-seven graduates that just came here only nine will be accepted as Genin. The other eighteen will be weeded out and sent back to the academy. In other words this is a make it or break it pass-fail test, and the chance that you'll fail is at _least _66%." When they gave him shocked looks he smirked under his mask, "See didn't I tell you, you wouldn't like it."

"That's crap!" Naruto shouted, causing his cousin to flinch away from him, "We worked hard to get here! What was that graduation test for anyway?!"

"Oh that," Kakashi said lightly, "that was just select candidates who might become Genin, or not."

"What!" He continued to shout as Kotori scooted further away and began to look slightly irritated.

"That's how it is." Kakashi said nonchalantly, "I decide whether you pass or fail. Be at the designated training spot at five a.m. and bring your ninja gear. That's it you're dismissed," He said to them before thinking of something slightly cruel, _"Eh, why not?" _"Oh and one more thing… you better not eat breakfast tomorrow or else… you'll puke."

Kakashi then body flickered away leaving only leaves in his wake, but he could still hear Kotori say, "I take it back, Kakashi sensei is the drama queen."

* * *

Kakashi walked up to the training grounds at around 8:30 in the morning and then spent an hour at the memorial stone telling Obito and Rin about his students. How Naruto was just like Obito and Sasuke was like himself. He supposed Kotori was like a less mature Rin; the only real difference from his old team was that Naruto didn't have a crush on the team's Kunoichi and Kotori didn't have a crush on Sasuke.

"Hey, you're late!" The cousins had shouted at him when he finally showed up at the team's meeting place.

"Well, a black cat crossed my path so I had to take the long way," This seemed to appease the redhead, but Naruto continued to glare and growled at him, "Well let's get started," Kakashi then explained his test to them.

"Uh, there are only two bells…" Kotori pointed out as if she were wondering if her sensei could even count, "There are three of us."

"Well, that way at least one of you end up tied to a post and ultimately disqualified for failing to complete the mission. That one goes back to the academy." He finished and jingled the bells as he watched their little faces darken with determination, "Then again," He added, "All three of you could flunk out too. You can use any weapon, including shuriken. If you're not prepared to kill me, you won't be able to take the bells," Kotori looked alarmed at this for a moment, but then resigned with a determined nod.

Naruto laughed, "You couldn't even dodge an eraser, sensei, you're not serious."

"Class clowns are usually the weakest links," Kakashi taunted him with facts, "You can safely ignore them. Lowest scores; losers." That seemed to anger him, "When I say start you can begin." Before Kakashi could give the go ahead, Naruto was pulling out a kunai and much to the surprise of his teammates, he charged at their sensei. Kakashi twisted the blond idiot's kunai wielding arm around and pointed his own knife at the back of his head before he even realized his sensei had moved. This impressed Kakashi's other two students as they stared (the redhead with open mouthed shock) in surprise at his sudden movement. "Don't be in such a hurry," He spoke to him as the others regained their composure, "I didn't say start yet."

He let Naruto go as his cousin stepped forward and whispered something in his ear, "Hide when he says go, we need to form a plan."

"But, you came at me with the full intention of destroying me," Kakashi let amusement enter his voice, "how can I say this? I'm actually starting to like you guys." He paused to look them over, "Get ready, and start!"

* * *

Once they were in the bushes Kotori grabbed her cousin, "Send a shadow clone to distract him," she whispered as she motioned Sasuke towards them, "Listen, none of us will be able to take him alone."

"Oh come on, I think -"

She cut off her cousin's whisper with a shake of her head, "No, Naruto, he's been holding back."

"I don't see what this has to do with me." Sasuke said and she sighed.

"We're a team, we've got to work together," She tried to explain, "I know being a Shinobi is important to both of you. I don't care if I get sent back, so you can both take the bells."

"But, Kotori!" Naruto cried. He didn't want to be on this team without her.

"Shh," She said looking back over at Kakashi for a moment as the clone Naruto had sent engaged him, "We need a plan," She looked back at them.

"Maybe we should all attack him at the same time?" Naruto suggested.

"Good idea, but we need to plan what we'll do in the attack." She said to him, "Sasuke you're the fastest, right?" At his nod she continued, "Then you'll stay back and wait for an opening while Naruto distracts him. My taijutsu isn't as good as either of yours, so I'll use throwing weapons on him. Is there anything you can do other than the academy stuff?"

"I can do a fire jutsu." Sasuke answered much to her surprise.

"Okay then," She nodded, "Naruto, if you see Sasuke coming at Kakashi sensei as he makes hand signs move out of range, but bring your clones in closer to him." She turned to Sasuke, "Your main objective, however, is to get the bells, but if that fails fight." She looked back to Naruto, "Can you henge two clones to look like me and Sasuke?" He nodded, "Alright, you guys get what we're doing?" They both nodded, "Okay, regardless of what your objective is, if you're able to grab a bell go for it."

Naruto's eyes widened, "He just poked my clone in the butt!"

"Naruto, focus," She said to him, "The plan, go!"

* * *

Kakashi popped the clone with a poke and looked up for his students. He knew that the three of them were hiding, but then suddenly they were all running at him. A sense of pride swelled in his chest at seeing them use teamwork against him. It looked as though they had already passed his test, but he was going to toy with them a little longer just to see what they could do.

Naruto made more clones and came at him, but Kakashi caught on quickly. The two he had thought were Sasuke and Kotori moved too much like Naruto which meant they were hinged clones. That meant the other two were running around here somewhere, hidden. _"Just what are they planning?"_

Shuriken exploded from the brush on the opposite side that Naruto had come from and were followed by Kotori. Kakashi easily used a replacement from a log in the foliage behind her. She spun around to face him using a basic academy stance with one fist ready to hit and the other to block as she lunged for him. Kakashi easily got under her guard sending her flying back at the Narutos coming their way. The clones disbursed leaving the real one for his cousin to land on as they tumbled across the field.

"I told you my taijutsu wasn't that great," She groaned getting off of her cousin. Together they squared off against him with Naruto making more clones to run around him. Kakashi knew they were trying to lead him back into the middle of the field, but he was unsure as to why. He let them do it to satisfy his own curiosity.

That was when Naruto made more clones of himself, and the other two. He was able to see both of them make their way to the edge of the group as the others boxed him in. That was when the real Sasuke made an appearance, and began running through hand signs for - "What? Genin can do fire jutsu! It takes too much chakra! There's no way!"

Now it made sense that the other two moved away, they were getting out of range of that jutsu. Kakashi replaced himself with one of the clones as Sasuke breathed fire at him and down on the closer clones, but Kotori was waiting for him. She threw kunai and shuriken at him again, this time forcing him to dodge as Naruto called forth more clones. Once Sasuke was aware his fire jutsu failed he was flying right at him. The two grappled for a moment before Naruto's clones caught hold of Kakashi and Kotori used a kunai to cut the bells free.

"I got them!" She said to them and they moved away from Kakashi and she handed them to her teammates.

"You're willing to give up on being a Shinobi?" Kakashi asked her.

"I still have being a medic going for me so," She shrugged.

"Well in that case, you all pass." He told them, "Even though you didn't actually get the bells."

"Huh?" Naruto said, "We got the bells!"

"Look again." Kakashi said and the two boys did only to find their palms empty.

"Genjutsu," Sasuke groaned, "The bells weren't even on the side Kotori-san cut them from."

"Why didn't I realize that?" She said covering her face with her hands.

"Wait…" Naruto said realizing what Kakashi said first, "We… We all pass?!"

"Huh?" Kotori snapped to attention, "Wait, what?"

"I was told this team was likely to be the most dysfunctional of the lot," Kakashi told them, "But I was honestly surprised at seeing you three working as a team."

"Wait, this whole thing was about _teamwork_?" Sasuke asked skeptically.

"Yes, a genin has a natural feel for teamwork; if you three hadn't worked together you wouldn't have been sent back to the academy." He told them.

"Really? What would've happened to us?" Naruto asked him.

"You would've been dropped from the program completely." This seemed to shock them, "Follow me; I need to show you something." His genin shared a look between each other, but followed after their sensei until he led them to a stone that had names engraved in it, "Do you know what this stone is?"

"Umm, not a clue." Naruto answered while the other two nodded gravely.

"This stone has the names of ninja who were honored as heroes," Kakashi began only to be interrupted by Naruto.

"That's it, that's it, that's it!" He sang, "Now I know, I've decided I'm gonna have my name engraved in it! I'm not going to live and die for nothing like a dog, I'm gonna be a hero! A hero!"

"Naruto," Kotori scolded him.

"Huh?" He said looking hurt by her harsh tone.

"They are a special kind of hero," Kakashi said and Naruto noticed how grave he was acting, "They're all KIA."

"What's that?" He asked him.

"It means that they were killed in action." Kotori answered him and Naruto suddenly understood their expressions and the serious atmosphere.

"This is a memorial stone," Kakashi began again, "The names of my closest friends are engraved here." He stayed silent as he let that sink in, "If you three really want to be Shinobi you must realize you will be putting your lives on the line and the lives of your comrades." He looked at their serious expressions, "So I'll give you one last chance to give up. You don't have to become ninja."

"What?" Kotori said in surprise, "You want us to give up?"

"No way," Naruto said, "No matter what, I'm not giving up."

"You know I'm not backing down." Sasuke said after Kakashi looked to him.

"We're Shinobi, we just don't give up." Kotori said confidently.

"Well, in that case, let's all go eat lunch in town then?" Kakashi asked them cheerfully.

* * *

"I can't believe none of us saw sensei eat!" Naruto said to Kotori as they walked towards home. Ino came running up to them excitedly.

"Did you pass?!" Ino asked Kotori.

"Yeah! Did you?" She asked her.

"We didn't have a test," Ino scoffed, "Since we're InoShikaCho all over again Asuma sensei didn't bother with a test. I was so mad. I wanted to show off a little, you know!"

"That's kind of a bummer, but at least you got in though." Kotori said to her.

"Hinata's team passed too, I saw Shikamaru and Choji talking to Kiba about it." Ino said already guessing that Kotori was going to want to find her.

"Wait… that means…" Kotori looked worried, "... Sakura didn't pass."

"Sakura…" Ino said surprise coming to her face.

"Wait, you guys don't think Sakura-chan made it?" Naruto cut in.

"Oh come on, she probably did, I mean she doesn't have that big forehead because her head is empty," Ino said insulting Sakura to cover the compliment, "You really don't think…?"

"Our sensei said that only nine would pass." Kotori said to her, "I'm going to find Sakura; I'll catch up with you guys later."

"Wait up Kotori! I'm going with you." Ino called to her leaving Naruto in their dust.

* * *

When the two finally got to the Haruno household they were told that Sakura still hadn't returned home yet. They both knew that her Jonin test had to have been over by then so they went to some of the places they knew Sakura often went to be alone. They ended up finding her on a park bench near the academy. She was sniffling and wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand as they walked up to her. Kotori didn't even speak as she pulled her friend into a hug.

"You guys passed, right." She said softly.

"Yeah," They both said equally as soft.

"Did you come here to gloat about it?" Sakura directed that question at Ino with a pitiful glare.

"Just because we're rivals doesn't mean I wanted to see you fail." Ino told her.

"Hey, she hasn't failed; she's just had one door close." Kotori told her, "She still has other options."

"Like what?" Sakura asked her.

"Well, you could go back to the academy and try again, join the genin corps, or try to become a medic." She said to her, "You can make six clones, right?"

"Yeah," Sakura agreed.

"Well, I've been working on my chakra control for a very long time and can only do that much too." Kotori explained, "If you had the training that I did you could do so much more."

"You think I could really be a medical ninja?" Sakura asked and then looked at Ino who nodded.

"Totally, your chakra control rocks," Ino said to her, "I remember the day we learned the clone technique; you got it on the first try."

"Naruto still doesn't know how to do that, and he passed." Kotori said to her, "All it is, is chakra control, which is a lot of what medical ninjutsu focuses on."

"Yeah," Ino said to her, "If you show someone you skills I'm sure you'll have a sensei in no time."

"The only thing I suggest for you to do if you want to do that is learn to tree walk before then." Kotori suggested, "It's an important control exercise."

"Tree walking?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, what the heck is that?" Ino asked.

Kotori sighed, "Maybe the three of us could learn medical ninjutsu together?"

"I'm all for that, but first show us the tree thing." Ino said to her and Sakura folded her arms giving her that I-demand-you-to-tell-me look.

"Alright, alright," Kotori said holding up her hands, "I'll teach you what I know, but only on one condition."

"What condition?" Ino said looking suspiciously at her.

"You two have to stop fighting," They both scoffed at her, "I'm not asking you to be friends, as much as I'd like you to be that again. All I am asking though is that you get along like you are now. Seriously, I really hate that I have to split myself between you."

"I never really thought about how you felt." Sakura said softly.

"Alright, we won't fight, unless Sasuke-kun is in the room." Ino promised.

"Fine then," Kotori said happily, "Now, let's go to that training field that has a stream, we'll need to catch a fish after learning to tree walk."

"A fish?!" They both cried.

* * *

Yakitori: It's pork, chicken, or other meat on a skewer that has been grilled or pan fried. Usually a street vendor sells this especially during festival time.

(Sorry for not adding this one on last chapter)

Tamagoyaki: Is egg that is cooked similarly to an omelette, but square and rolled. Sometimes the rolled egg has vegetables in it. After it's cooked and rolled it's often cut into smaller pieces. This is usually served with miso, rice, and some kind of steamed vegetable.

* * *

A/N: So... I hope you liked the update. Tell me what you think I should work on, oh and I also went back and fixed some things in the first chapter. I made her a less skilled. Sorry to anyone that thought she was over skilled. I'm still trying to figure out what I'm doing with writing characters so... I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please don't flame me or be rude. Thanks for reading.


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